OutKast undoubtedly reps their home city of Atlanta and the south in general. From naming their first album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik to Andre 3000 declaring at the Source Awards that “the south got something to say,” Dre and Big Boi have always stood tall for their dirty south heritage.

That strong connection does not mean the duo did not draw inspiration from other regions of the country. During a discussion with NPR Microphone Check, Andre spoke about how Hip Hop groups from California and New York played a big part in influencing OutKast’s music.

I have to give a shout out to the Hieroglyphics Crew and Souls of Mischief, because as kids we were hugely influenced by them. When it comes to rap, I would say [A Tribe Called Quest], Hiero, and Das EFX – people don’t mention them a lot – but to me it was about who had the most interesting things, interesting flows. And when it came to that, Tribe had their thing, Hiero had their thing, Das EFX had their thing that was different from everybody else. So when we came out, you definitely could hear the West Coast influence in our rhymes.

3 Stacks goes on to add that he never felt like Kast had an “Atlanta sound.” In his view, the two emcees had southern accents, but their music was a “hodgepodge” of all the different sounds that they enjoyed listening to. OutKast wanted to carry the flag for the city, but they did not want to only create the traditional music that Atlanta had been known for at the time.